- The Great Green -
The card game between Rukzod, Skullrippa, Gol D. Loota, and Makari continued. They all sat around a table, betting a seemingly unlimited amount of teef, whose use in the afterlife remained a mystery.
How long had they been there? It was impossible to say; they had run out of interesting things to talk about and now found themselves in silence, creating a small pile of cards in the center of their group.
Their bored faces indicated how little fun they were having. Perhaps they should do something different. Descending the mountains and seeing what lay in the mushroom forests seemed like a great option, but as soon as the mouth of the former Nob of Rukzod opened to utter the suggestion, something strange happened to his former boss.
His form was changing, his body losing color and dissipating to the point that it was possible to see through him like a wraith. For everyone, this was a cause for surprise and concern, but for the great Ork, it was a moment of joy, and he made sure those present knew it.
He stood up carelessly, knocking over his seat and overturning the table, scattering the game that had lasted an eternity into the wind. Throwing his arms upwards, the Ork shouted insult after insult at his dead companions.
"I'M KOM'N BACK! ME, NOT YER! RIGHT 'N YER FACE! SKULLRIPPA, YER USELESS GIT, I SHOULD HAVE KRUSHED GORLONIK AN YER WHEN I HAD 'DA CHANCE! GOL D. LOOTA, YOU'RE DA WORST FREEBOOTA I'VE EVA MET 'N MA LIFE! YA DIED BEFORE YA EVEN LEFT DA PLANET! AN' YOU…"
Makari flinched in his seat as a large green finger pointed at his face, and any subsequent reply was cut short by a kick from the Ork. A boot the size of his body sent him flying off the mountain, his screams fading as the distance increased until the poor Grot disappeared into the mist below.
With a final laugh, Rukzod Nidkilla returned to the world of the living.
-Thumb of Gork-
"It'z alive! It'z alive!"
A Painboy let out a maddened laugh as he pulled down a lever attached to a massive machine. A large generator whose wires, ending in clamps, were connected to the Ork's body lying on a metal table covered by a white sheet.
The thing beneath the piece of fabric began to move, a subtle movement of fingers, the rising and falling of the chest. Gradually, the upper section of its body rose, creating the appearance of a ghost enveloped in electricity, but when the cloth fell towards the ground, its gleaming metallic body revealed itself to all.
With the release of the lever, the electricity ceased, and a pair of red eyes scanned their surroundings, seeing the world in various shades of the same color, encircling each object in a gray outline while text appeared in the corner of their vision, describing them.
As soon as his bionic feet touched the cold floor—not that he was able to feel anything now, causing a metallic crack followed by a tremor—a wave of words replaced the short sentences of before, making him take a step back in frustration.
A more attentive person would have read the reports from his cybernetic body's system, indicating the crucial statuses of his various parts as a whole, but Rukzod only had one thing on his mind.
"GATHA 'DA BOYZ! LET'S GO GET SOMETH'N FROM MA FORTRESS! AN' AFTA 'DAT, WE'LL SHOWZ 'DA CITY 'OO'S 'N CHARGE ERE!"
His voice came out muffled and cut by static, the volume and body movements serving as indicators of his emotions, as his tone no longer possessed that ability.
There was a moment of hesitation, but after a particularly deafening threat, the gaping Painboyz, Mekz, and Grots fumbled to leave the room, ready to carry out the orders of their resurrected leader.
-XXXXXX-
Outside the city, the number of Tyranids was countless, a massive purple ring hidden amidst the vegetation, encircling the Ork settlement. Gaunts of all kinds stood with their heads bowed, eyes closed and breaths slow, trapped in a trance.
As if a button had been pressed, quick as a blink of an eye, their behavior changed completely, beginning with a shrill screech, followed by another, and another, and another…
Dozens, hundreds, thousands of Tyranids advanced towards the city like an ocean of biomass, their legs and claws closing the distance in a frenzied race, making the jungle tremble.
On the roof of his now fortified hut, Azgruz raised his staff flowing with psychic power, preparing for a last stand against the swarm, but to his surprise, the sea of flesh split, completely ignoring his dwelling and heading towards where the Ork population lived.
The Weirdboy could only watch as the screams and gunshots began to echo in the distance.
-XXXXXX-
To say that the defense against the swarm was going smoothly would be a bad joke; the walls, which were already poorly defended in times of unity, were practically unprotected due to the division of the city.
The gates closing in time as soon as the Tyranids left the tree line was what prevented the brute force from entering Thumb of Gork, but that didn't stop them from piling up against the gigantic walls, forming a tower of bodies to the top, getting closer and closer to their objective.
The few Orks who bothered to patrol the walls, a task given by their respective leaders and which no one really wanted to fulfill, did their best to face the attackers, which wasn't much.
The fact that the groups belonged to different enclaves was disregarded; the shots from their Shootas ripped through the air, Stikkbombz plummeted towards the Tyranid towers, sinking into the mass of flesh until they exploded in a shower of guts and purple blood, causing the structure to topple.
There was only a moment of joy, which quickly died when more Tyranids occupied the open space, causing the tower to rise again.
The sounds of claws scraping against metal and fangs biting the air were a cruel warning of what was to come, but as if that weren't enough, the defenders began to fall one by one, for as they approached the edge to take down their enemies, someone in the mess of bodies fired back.
Termagants, Tyranids in a symbiotic relationship with Bio-weapons, such as Fleshborers, fired flea-sized insects to devour their enemies from the inside out, accompanied by Spike Rifles, which sent razor-sharp harpoons bathed in toxins, causing their targets to bleed and infect until death.
While the Orks screamed on the ground, writhing in pain, whether from parasites or the various poisons coursing through their veins, the first Tyranid placed its paws on the walls, armed with Strangle Webs, a living spider-like creature that fired a sticky web, trapping its target and then shrinking and hardening to crush it with pressure aided by debilitating venom.
Soon the green-skins found themselves trapped; those whose nervous systems hadn't been attacked managed to free themselves thanks to their superior strength, tearing through the web like paper. However, this brief moment of distraction allowed the rest of the horde to close in, tearing them apart in a flurry of fangs and claws.
Their death cries mingled with the roar of the Termagant wielding a Strangle Web, a sign that the first phase of the invasion was complete, as from his elevated position he witnessed the various sections of the walls being taken one by one.
The second phase began with a swarm of gargoyles emerging from the clouds, winged, venom-spitting Tyranids armed with Fleshborers.
The swarm of biomass covered the city, blocking sunlight and swooping down towards the buildings and Orks below, ready to devour them in a coordinated movement with the forces leaping from the walls, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, heading towards the streets.
It wouldn't be long before it was all over; the biomass would increase the swarm, and they would find what they came for. At that moment, several things happened, witnessed by the Termagant.
First of all, the main gate was opened, something that happened too early for them to have accomplished according to the superior force commanding them, and with that, the rest of their army entered the city without interruption.
Accompanying this scene, a procession of heavy armored vehicles, tearing through the city—only noticed now due to the brief moment to analyze the surroundings—collided with the army in question, creating a tangle of flesh and scrap.
Finally, several objects took flight towards the sky, crashing head-on into the swarm of Gargoyles coming from the opposite direction. There was a cacophony of blinding explosions; a pink cloud expanded in all directions, consuming everything in its path, and then, pain and agony were all Termagant felt before he began to vomit his dissolved insides.
-XXXXXX-
So, the attack began, sooner than I expected, but things were going according to plan.
I left Laenae at the mansion with Dobby and Gulg and a small army of Grots, and now I walked through the streets of my territory, accompanied by my Squigs, distancing myself further and further from the crowds of Orks rushing to confront the invaders. Right now, I could hear the cannons on my walls firing in the distance, the projectiles tearing through the air and exploding far away, mingling with the screeches of the Tyranids.
BOOM!
I flinched, feeling my ears ring as the Suppa-Kannon fired in the opposite direction, its rotating platform allowing it to aim at the city walls where my enclave was nestled.
I saw the fireball forming, eliminating the first Tyranids that showed their heads on top, and those that came after fell to their deaths due to their frenzied advance, because unlike the rest of the city, I hadn't left buildings directly below the walls for anyone to land on.
In any case, it was as if a purple waterfall had formed in that spot; soon there would be enough bodies to cushion the fall of those coming behind.
"WAAAGH!"
I was pulled from my thoughts when the classic Ork war cry reverberated throughout the settlement. Even in such a precarious situation, they wanted a good fight; perhaps they would thank me for ordering the gates to be opened, or perhaps they should do it to one of the enclaves that allied with me. After all, I may have given the order, but they were the ones who carried out the mission.
You know, it was interesting and frightening to see how a horde army functioned from the point of view of those being attacked. There was no more sun; a cloud of gargoyles descended from the sky, ready to transform the buildings surrounding us into a slaughterhouse—that was their biggest mistake.
I saw the cylinders rising towards the sky like rockets, and with that, I put on the gas mask hanging from my waist, waiting for the Lictor to make his next move.
And there he was, on the roof of a small house to my right. My Squigs couldn't sniff him out, my Fight Detecta couldn't find his vital signs, but the green currents of the WAAAGH!—the psychic culmination of all Orkoid beings that coursed through the city like a river—collided against his body, forming a Lictor-shaped hole in the waves.
I avoided looking directly at him and kept walking, making him think he had the element of surprise, but the moment he leaped towards me, the cloud of pink gas reached us.
-XXXXXX-
It began with a distant, muffled, almost inaudible rumble, but that changed swiftly as lightning when the walls of Rukzod Nidkilla's fortress crumbled, brought down by a mountain of metal mounted atop tracks.
The gigantic form of the super-heavy assault vehicle left the dust and debris, causing an earthquake in its wake. Approximately fifteen meters long and seven meters high, weighing two hundred tons and moving at nearly sixty kilometers per hour despite its meter-thick armor, the Battle Fortress of the resurrected chief advanced toward the city below, crushing everything in its path with its colossal steamroller.
Rukzod's favorite vehicle, previously locked away in the deepest garage of his fortification, could finally be used. His loyal Mekz wasted no time in filling the fuel tank and getting everything running.
The mobile building, armed with all manner of weaponry—Skorchas, Twin-Linked Big Shootas, Rokkit Launchas, Kannons, Lobbas, and more—broke down the fortress gates with a deafening blast from its main cannon. The Orks crew, wielding the overwhelming firepower, roared as they witnessed the destruction they could cause.
Outside, the countless vehicles piloted by Rukzod's gang roared their engines: War Bikes, War Buggies, Wartrakkz, Boomdakka Snazzwagonz, all gathering behind the Battle Fortress with a single objective: to reunify the city through force.
And so they did, advancing in a straight line, the mountain of metal crushing and burning everything in its path. The Orks facing the Tyranids in the streets had their attention divided, momentarily believing reinforcements had arrived, only to be reduced to a thin green and purple mist alongside the swarm when the moving wall of weapons fired in their direction.
Building after building, enclave after enclave, vehicles sped through, trampling and crushing enemies in their path. Fires started thanks to Skorchas and Squig Oil Cocktails, rockets and artillery crisscrossed the horizon, creating massive explosions in the distance, and on the highest level of the Battle Fortress, seated on his throne, Rukzod laughed, watching the destruction around him through a periscope.
However, his mood changed as soon as the screams began, for they weren't from those being turned into paste by the steamroller, but from his own Boyz.
"BOSS, DA GATE!"
The great Ork's seat spun along with the periscope toward the main gate, too late to react to the horde of Tyranids that collided with his forces.
Everyone present had to hold on to something to avoid falling from the resulting impact, and it wasn't long before the Hormagaunts began crawling in through every small opening, their claws exchanging blows with the Choppas from Orks quick enough to react.
Rukzod rose from his throne, easily crushing the skull of a Tyranid that leaped toward him. There was little resistance, a crack followed by a wet sound, and the creature stopped struggling; however, on the second step toward the combat, pink was all the boss could see.
END OF CHAPTER